


Languages

by jack_inaboxx



Series: worldbuilding & notes [1]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:27:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24563824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jack_inaboxx/pseuds/jack_inaboxx
Summary: What it says on the tin.
Series: worldbuilding & notes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775497





	1. Chapter 1

Okay so- 

‘Elves’ in general is ‘Ellin’, which means more along the lines of “ones of light” in a closer to literal translation. 

Literal translation of Elvish is just about impossible, because so much of it relies on implied meanings and context. It’s much more of a general language than English is, for example. Say- it’s like, instead of saying, ‘that red hat’, it’d be ‘that head top of blood color’. It’s all comparisons rather than exact. 

But enough rambling. 

So you have elves, as a general, but there’s also fourteen sub-species (so to speak) of elf. Each have their own name. Think like- ah, like humans can be ‘German’ or ‘Italian’, elves have their own version of that. Sort of. It’s less based on region (though the names are based on the variety of land they inhabit) and more on characteristics like magical aptitude, connection to the core magic of the world, and physical features- ear shape, leg shape, general build, etc. Sometimes even the state of their soul. Depending. 

And I’m rambling again…. uh. Anyway. 

So!

First off are ‘wisp elves’, known as _valellin_ , which translates closest to “light of smoke”. (Yep, there’s that ‘light’ again)

Then, ‘high elves’ (a classic!), elven term being _arlathellin._ meaning “light of the old city”. (noticing a theme yet?) 

‘cliffs elves’! they’re _vaiellin_ which means, ish, “light of the wild”. 

‘wood elves’ (another classic!). _dhellin_ , and this one means “light in secrets”. 

‘snow elves’ are _fayellin_ , which sort of means “light for the lost”

‘ash elves’ are _vhellin_ , which means (ish? all of these are, as I said, very rough translations) “light in dust”

‘sand elves’. they’re _vhelethellin_ and that means “light in dust of stone”

‘alpine elves’ are _arellin_ , which is “light of the day”

‘sea elves’ are _leyellin_ , which means “light for the lure”

‘cave elves’ (NOT dwarves) are _lethellin_ , which means “light of stone” 

‘city elves’ are _emanellin_ , which is “light from thought” (interesting to note, here; the elven term for humans is ‘eman’ which means “ones of mind”)

‘dark elves’ (no, not like in skyrim, closer to that would be vhellin) are _ellin-var_ , “ones of night heart” 

‘plains elves’ are _adhellin_ , which means “light in open grass”

‘wild elves’ are _ellin-vai,_ which means “ones of wild heart”. 

Now I could go on for ages about these and the different relations between the prefixes and the specific placements of letters and what they represent, and all that, but this post is already long enough


	2. Chapter 2

Vazar is interesting, because it’s part of the common language of beastfolk- the same way that humans need a common language because they have so many, beastfolk need one too, because they literally would not be able to understand one another otherwise. Thankfully the principles of this common language- called ‘Besten’- are fairly simple, as I’ll explain in a moment… 

Vazar.

Let’s look at the two parts there! 

“V” and “azar” are both separate parts to the word. Technically ‘V’ is actually the prefix, and not really a separate word, but- wait, hold on, I never said that anyway. Bleh. Okay. 

For now, let’s look a little closer at ‘azar’. 

‘Azar’ is the Besten word for ‘self’- it’s also what they use to refer to their species or their person, similar to how we use ‘humanity’ or ‘I’. They use it as a suffix in the terms they use for other races.   
They use it like that, because the basis of the language is from the perspective of the beastfolk! Like- the entire language is written in first-person. It’s a bit like that. Sorta.

Now the “V” part. 

The ‘v’ sound typically represents something negative or disturbing, or, on rare occasions and when combined with an ‘s’ instead of a ‘z’, dangerous. 

In the case of ‘vazar’, it means boring. They don’t tend to think highly of dwarves, probably because dwarves don’t think very highly of them. Generally beastfolk are happy to live and let live, but dwarves are, technically, enroaching on everyone’s territory because they’re _under_ it, and beastfolk take territory very seriously! but it’s fine because they don’t interact.   
But then there was a small civil war where the Dwarves tried to build up things on the surface, but they chose beastfolk land for that. and uhhh. Things weren’t very good after that. Which is why their name for dwarves is negative. But not cruel. Because that war was centuries ago from the present, when the novel is set. So! Things! 

TL:DR; “Vazar” is then Besten word for Dwarf/Dwarves, and it means, roughly, ‘deep-self’ (because beastfolk think of all creatures in terms of how they relate to the beastfolk themselves).


End file.
